Family Affairs
by Yes-Please-I'mLying
Summary: Mai has been having strange and disturbing dreams for a week now, and they seem to be connected to the new case. The team leaves for a house in the middle of nowhere where a violent ghost has it's sights set on killing Mai. Will they solve the case in time?
1. Chapter 1

"Mai, tea." I heard a familiar voice call from his office. I slowly stood up from my desk, sighed and made my way over to the dull looking kitchen. I got Naru's mug out of the cupboard and put a tea bag in it. After filling the kettle up and turning on the gas, I sank down to the ground, exhausted and emotionally drained.

During the past week, I swear I've only had around five or six hours of sleep, and when I did eventually manage to get to sleep, my dreams were plagued with the nightmare. The same nightmare. Over and over again.

My thoughts were loudly interrupted by the loud whistling of the tea pot on the stove. I grabbed onto the top of the counter and pulled myself into an upright position.

I was about to pour the tea into Naru's plain black mug when my arms seemed to become strangely heavy and my vision blurred slightly. My balance seemed to have gone out the window as I stumbled and dropped the tea pot on the floor, making a loud metallic bang that caused my ears to ring. I felt dizzy and tried to clutch on to the counter for support, but my hands missed their target and I felt myself slowly fall to the floor. Fortunately, a pair of firm arms caught me just before I collided with the floor.

"Naru!" I vaguely heard a voice call.

"Is she okay?" I felt myself being lifted up. Resting my head on someone's chest, I managed to open my eyes and groaned as my head began to throb painfully.

I was gently laid down on the sofa and a cold flannel was placed on my forehead. I looked up into Lin's cold eyes. I thought I saw a look of concern cross the tall man's face, but it disappeared so quickly that I thought I must have imagined it.

"Mai, what happened?" Naru asked. He was stood next to Lin, looking no more emotional than usual.

"I felt really dizzy all of a sudden then I just fell. It's probably from a lack of sleep so I'll be fine." I tried to sit up, but Lin pushed me back down into a lying position.

"Well then maybe you should _get_ some sleep." He said.

"I will not permit my employee to sleep in my office." Said Naru agitatedly, shooting a look at Lin that could kill.

"Well would you rather she passed out again?" Lin retorted, unaffected by his death glare. Naru was silent for a few seconds.

"Your shift finishes in three hours. You can sleep until then." He walked solemnly back into his office and slammed the door, obviously in yet another bad mood,

"Hey, Lin?" I asked quietly as I pushed myself into and upright position. He had just walked over to his desk, but paused and turned around to look at me.

"Yes Mai?"

"Err, I'm sorry, but do you have any painkillers?" He paused to think.

"I think we have some in the first aid kit. I'll just go and check." He walked out into the hall, presumably to the bathroom.

_We have a first aid kit? _I thought to myself.

I let my head droop back onto the top of the sofa. I stared up at the ceiling, wishing that I could just have a pleasant dream for once, or better, no dreams at all. Is that really too much to ask?

Lin returned a few minutes later carrying a glass of ice water in one hand and a box of Paracetamol in the other with a plain blue blanket draped over his arm. He put the glass of water and the Paracetamol on the coffee table and placed the blanked down next to me.

"Thank you Lin." I said. He simply nodded in reply and went back to his computer. I took the small pill with the water and put the glass back on the table. I knew I needed to sleep and I really wanted to, although I knew what would happen if I did.

Reluctantly, I lay down on the comfy sofa and pulled the fluffy blanked up around my neck. For a few minutes, I just lay there, staring at the half empty glass of water on the table, trying to mentally prepare myself for what I knew was about to come next. After a while, I felt myself giving into the feeling of exhaustion and eventually, I felt myself slipping away.

I flexed my fingers in front of me and arched my back, trying to get rid of the stiffness in my limbs. I didn't mind working at the computer all day, but I have to admit that there are other things I'd rather be doing. I looked at the clock on the wall. According to the clock it was around 7:45 which meant that Mai had been asleep for an hour and three quarters.

I looked over at her sleeping form, buried beneath the blanket I brought her earlier. _Takigawa and Ayako should be her any min-_

"Maaiii! Bou-san is here to see you!" Takigawa yelled happily as he and Ayako walked through the door.

"Will you please shut up!" Ayako shouted, hitting him hard over the head with her purse.

"What was that for?" He moaned at Ayako.

"You're far too loud for your own goo-"

"Could you please try and be a bit quieter. Mai is asleep and it would be nice if it would stay that way." I said to them.

They both turned to look at Mai asleep on the sofa, puzzled looks on their faces.

"Is she allowed to sleep here? I'm sure Naru would go mental if he knew." Takigawa exclaimed.

"It's okay. She had Naru's permission. She fainted earlier in the kitchen so Naru and I thought it would be best if we let her sleep until the end of her shift."

I saw a look of worry on their faces as Ayako went into Doctor Mode.

"She fainted! What happened?" Ayako knelt down next to the sofa and began to examine her face. She noticed the dark purple bags under Mai's eyes.

"She was making Naru his tea in the kitchen. I heard the kettle fall to the ground so I went in to check on her and caught her just as she was about to hit the ground. I carried her over to the sofa. She was conscious by then. She told us that she had been feeling feeling dizzy and that it was probably just from a lack of sleep."

Takigawa knelt down next to Ayako and stared at Mai with a look of great concern on his face.

"Will she be alright?" Takigawa asked Ayako worriedly.

"I think so, but I don't see why she hasn't been sleeping. She doesn't even have any exams at the moment that she would need to stay up late and revise for. She really needs to be taking better care of herself."

"This isn't right. A fifteen year old orphan shouldn't be living in an apartment on her own. She needs a family." Takigawa said in a hushed tone.

"I think we're her family." I said. They both looked up at me and smiled.

All of a sudden, Mai began to shake slightly

"She's having another nightmare." Ayako tried to wake her up, but it didn't look like that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Her eyes were darting around behind her eyelids and a layer of cold sweat was forming on her forehead. Ayako tried shaking her.

"Mai! Wake up!" Takigawa shouted at her urgently. Naru's office door swung open and he walked into the room.

"Maybe this is what's been keeping her up at night." I said to Naru, but he didn't seem to be listening. He was staring at Mai, his lips pursed. He didn't like to admit it, but I knew he cared for her. We all do.

Her breaths became shallow and her fists were clenched into balls so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"Damn it Mai! WAKE UP!" Bou shouted one last time. She went still and her eyes fluttered open. She grabbed the nearest person to her, which just so happened to be Ayako.

"Ayako?" She whispered as silent tears began to stream from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Ayako into a hug and began to cry more. Ayako hugged her back and whispered soothing words the terrified girl. Takigawa sat on the sofa next to her and stroked her hair. He looked over at me and Naru. We needed to find out what was going on.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't know what else I could say to Mai to make her calm down. She'd been crying and hugging me for what seemed like five minutes now, without telling us anything!

"Mai sweetie, you need to tell us what's going on. We can't help you if we don't know anything." I said calmly to her. I felt her release me from her grasp and wipe her eyes. She sat up and looked at me. She was extremely pale, which only made the bags under her eyes look worse.

"Well, are you going to tell us about your dream?" Naru asked, like the insensitive moron he was. "Because we've been waiting here for a while."

"Naru will you stop being such a jerk!" Bou said. "She's obviously terrified. Can't you be a bit more sensitive towards her feelings?"

"Why would I care about the feelings of an employee?" Even Lin gave him the evils then.

"It's okay, I'll tell you." Mai said quietly. "I've been having the same dream all week. I've been afraid to go to sleep, which is probably why I collapsed earlier. I haven't slept much at all lately."

I stood up and sat on the sofa next to her. She grabbed the young girls hand squeezed it slightly and looked at the teenage girl.

"You need to tell us about your dream Mai." I told her. I saw tears glisten in her eyes, but they quickly disappeared.

Mai then went on to explain the dream.

_I was standing in a bedroom. Nothing special, just an ordinary bedroom. There was a double bed with plain white sheets, a wooden wardrobe, a dressing table with a mirror and an antique looking chest of draws._

_I was clutching onto a crumpled up photo. For some reason I was crying, but I couldn't figure out why. Naru hadn't done anything that had made me cry lately. I thought that if I looked at the photo, it might give me some clue to why I was crying. I walked over to the dressing table that was stood next to the window. It was dark outside. The faint pitter patter of rain against the window sill could just be heard through the howling winds that were blowing a gale outside._

_I smoothed out the photograph on the mahogany dressing table in front of me. On it was a picture of a man. He had brown wavy hair that was medium length and blur eyes. He was wearing a pair of brown trousers and a blue pullover. For some reason when I saw that man I started to cry even more. Who was this man? On the back of the photo there were a few scribbled words jotted down._

_Kaito in the garden – 17__th__ June 1974_

_I looked at the mirror attached to the dressing table and gazed at my reflection. My eyes were full of sadness and loneliness, along with what looked like a mix of hatred and terror. They were puffy and red and my mascara had run down my face. I paused to rub my eyes, trying to stop the tears that were still falling. When I opened my eyes again and looked in the mirror, there was someone stood behind me. A woman with an insane look in her eyes._

"_Hello Shiori. Didn't think you could escape from me did you?" I tried to bolt through the bedroom door, but she reacted quicker than me and grabbed onto my wrist, yanking it back towards her. I yelped in pain and screamed for help, but nobody could hear me. I knew that. We were in a rundown mansion in the middle of nowhere, and there was nobody in the house apart from the two of us. Nobody was coming to save me._

_She threw me onto the floor and jumped on top of me, pinning my arms down above my head. I screamed and struggled against her as hard as I could, but there was nothing I could do. She brought her free hand up to my face, revealing a rather sharp looking knife. She held it against my cheek and pressed it into my skin._

"_You should stop struggling, unless you want that pretty little face of yours to get slashed to ribbons. I bet that if he saw how you looked now, he wouldn't have chosen you over me" I tried to thrust my hips up hoping that she would lose her balance, giving me an advantage but it just made her angrier._

"_STOP IT! STOP IT YOU BITCH! YOU STOLE EVERYTHING FROM ME…and now I want revenge." She smiled at me and pressed the knife harder into my skin, cutting me. She traced the blade all the way down my cheek, licking her lips at the same time. I cried out in pain as the warm red liquid ran down my cheek and pooled onto the floor around my head, staining my hair a dark burgundy colour. _

_My cries of pain didn't affect her in any way, she just carried on cutting. First, she did the same to my other cheek, and then carved something on my forehead. _

"_Now everybody will know that you're a slut"_

_She then made her way down to my arms, where she carved jagged lines down them, like the cracks in the ceiling I could see above me. After a while, the pain all blended into one intense feeling of agony. The cries turned into yells, the yells turned into screams, and then the screams turned into silent prayers. I was surprised that I hadn't died of blood loss yet, considering how much of my own blood I was lying in._

"_Are you enjoying this as much as I am?" The woman asked with a crazed look in her eyes. "I highly doubt that. Why aren't you dead yet? You should be dead by now…oh well. All the more fun for me!" _

_I think she got bored of me after a while, because a few minutes later, she just started stabbing me in the gut and yelling at me to just die already. I think I had become numb by then, because I either couldn't feel the pain any more or I had just gotten used to it, if that's even possible._

_I heard her whisper one last thing to me before the darkness enveloped me._

'_I'll be waiting. I know you're coming."_


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three days since the 'incident'. Ayako had ordered Naru to give me two days off to rest and recuperate. Even though I'm sure he wanted to say no, he couldn't really ignore the doctor's orders. Ayako had prescribed me some sleeping pills which had helped me quite a lot. Not only did they put me to sleep, I didn't have any dreams. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had such peaceful sleep. I was really grateful to have her in my life.

Anyway, I received a call yesterday from Lin, telling me that Naru had taken on a new case. I was to be down at the office for nine thirty with supplies that would last me about a week. He didn't say where we were going, only that it was quite a long journey so I might want to take something to do. I had packed various items of clothing, underwear, books and my MP3 player. It wasn't exactly an iPod touch, but it was better than nothing. I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table. It was eight forty-five, meaning that if I set of then, I would be early to the office, which didn't happen very often.

I double checked that I had everything I needed, unplugged all the electric appliances and left the apartment.

By the time I'd got to the office, Bou and Lin had already loaded everything into the van and Yasu and John had just arrived. Ayako was chatting quietly with Masako at the side of the van. Maybe they were chatting about the case, which I still knew nothing about. I made a mental note to ask them about it later.

I made my way to the kitchen and decided to make Naru a flask of tea for the journey. I can't imagine what he'd be like if he went five hours without tea…after a minutes thought, I decided that it would probably be best to make two flasks.

I couldn't put into words how much better I felt after two days of rest and dreamless sleep. I was totally refreshed and ready to work hard.

"You look like you're feeling better." Bou said from behind me. I turned around and was quickly wrapped into a bone crushing bear hug. It was annoying, but I had really missed Bou and his brother like behaviour. I'd missed everyone, everyone except Naru that was. It had been a luxury to not have to make him any tea for a couple of days, not that I actually minded making him tea, but I didn't particularly enjoy it either. Naru always treats me like an object instead of a real person. I can't even begin to explain how much that irritates me.

"We're ready to go." I heard Lin announce from the main room.

"Okay, we'll be down in a minute." I replied. I finished screwing the lids onto the flasks and gave them to Bou to carry.

"Why am I carrying these?" He asked.

"Stop complaining and be a gentleman for once." I retorted. I strode out of the kitchen, smiling at Bou's angry yelling behind me.

We were split up into two groups. Naru, Lin, Masako and Yasu were going in the van and Ayako, Takigawa, John and I were going in Bou's car. I sat in the back with John and Ayako was in the front with Bou who was driving. Bou started up the car and we began to follow the van in front of us.

John and I talked for a while about various things. He told me about how his work at the church was going and all about Australia and his family back home. After a while, we ran out of things to talk about, so I put my earphones in and switched on my MP3 player. I could faintly hear Ayako and Bou begin to argue loudly behind the music, but it wasn't annoying. It had come to be a homely sound, and soon it had sent me off to sleep.

"Mai. Mai, it's time to wake up." I heard John say. I pulled my headphones out of my ears and looked around. We clearly weren't at the house we were investigating, unless we investigating a haunted service station, and I highly doubted that Naru would take on a case here.

"What are we doing here?" I asked sleepily.

"We're stopping off for lunch here. Ayako was complaining about hungry so we phoned Naru and he said that we could make a short stop here." Bou explained as I got out of the car. "And we all know what Ayako gets like when she doesn't have any food."

"What did you just say?" Ayako yelled in Bou's ear, hitting him over the head with her purse.

"Nothing." Said Bou in a sing song voice. "I didn't say anything." Ayako was about to hit him again, so I decided it would be a good time to intervene.

"So, what are we getting to eat?" I asked.

"Whatever you want. My treat." Bou said as he dragged me towards the entrance. The doors slid open automatically and we stepped into the building. Inside, there was a breakfast bar, a food counter and a newsagent. Everyone wanted a hot meal, but I didn't really feel like one. Bou handed me a ¥1000 note and told me to get whatever I wanted, along with a large bag of crisps for him and Ayako to share.

I walked into the shop and straight over to the sandwich section. In the end, I decided on a jam and pickle sandwich, along with many assorted bags of sweets and biscuits that would last me the week. I got Bou and Ayako some prawn cocktail crisps, I mean, who doesn't like prawn cocktail? Also I decided to get John a little something. After paying for everything, I had about ¥260 change to give back to Bou.

I left the newsagent and wandered over to the seating area where the rest of the team was sat and pulled up a chair.

"I got you and Ayako prawn cocktail crisps. Is that okay?" I asked Bou. He nodded and smiled at me. I decided that it was time to present John with his 'thoughtful' gifts.

"I got these for you to try John." I said, handing him a bottle of curry flavoured lemonade and a bag of roasted baby crabs. "I just thought that seeing as you're in Japan, you should try some of our delicacies. He took them from me and stared at them with a look of disgust on his face, which quickly turned into a warm smile when he realised that I was watching him.

"Wow Mai! These look…delicious!" He said, holding up the weird snacks. The truth was that I'd never heard of these in my life, let alone tried them, but I wasn't about to tell him that. I think Bou and Ayako had gotten an idea of what I was doing by then and decided to join in.

"Oh! I love those!" Ayako exclaimed. "You should try them. They're really nice!"

"Yeah. I have like ten packs of those crabs at home." Bou said. I was trying my best not to laugh as John looked down at the crabs and began to slowly open the packet.

"You know what?" John said in his amusing Australian accent. "I think I'll start with the lemonade first." He actually looked a bit scared when he unscrewed the lid. He looked at us, then at the bottle and raised it to his lips. He took a sip, pulled a strange face, swallowed and then put the bottle down. He shivered slightly.

"Wow. That was really…nice. Thanks Mai." Let's face it. John was the nicest guy I was ever going to meet, but that didn't stop any of us from making fun of him. He picked up the bag and crabs and tore the top off. He carefully picked one out of the bag by one of its legs and was about to eat it when Lin decided it was time to intervene.

"I think it's time we got going." He said bluntly. John quickly dropped the crab and sighed in relief.

"I was thinking exactly the same thing." He said. We all laughed at him, but not in a mean way. I picked up my bag of food and we made our way back to the car. It was bright outside. The sun glinted off the surface of Bou's car, making me squint. Maybe I should've brought my sunglasses. I didn't think the weather was going to be this great.

According to Lin, there was only around two hours left of the journey. Bou decided to turn on the radio and open the windows, considering how warm it was outside. I got my sandwich out of the plastic carrier bag and began to munch happily on it. When I'd finished it, I offered some of my sweets to John, but he declined. I think he was worried that they were going to be something incredibly weird and disgusting.

I finished off the bag of sweets, stuffed the packaging back into the bag and looked out of the window. It was then that I realised we were on a country road somewhere. All around us were trees and hills. It didn't look like there was any sort of building for miles around.

"Are you sure we're going the right way Bou?" I asked nervously. I hated getting lost.

"I'm just following Naru and Lin. If we're lost, you can blame them, although I highly doubt that we'd get lost with Lin navigating. He's like a human Sat Nav."

I decided that I should stop worrying, so I got my MP3 player out of my bag again and inserted the headphones into my ears. I don't think I went to sleep, I just dozed on and off for the car journey.

After what seemed like forever, the car finally came to a stop. I opened my eyes, put my MP3 player in my bag and pushed open the car door. I stood in awe as I stared up at the broad structure in front of me. Towering above me stood a grand mansion. It was old, run down and slightly creepy looking, but it had a look of elegance and beauty that made me just want to gaze at it forever. It amazed me how something this beautiful could be out here in the middle of nowhere, with nobody to admire it.

The old wooden front door of the mansion slowly creaked open, and a figure stepped out. It was a woman. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, but could've easily been in her forties. She had shoulder length straight black hair and piercing eyes that seemed to look straight into your soul.

"Welcome to my home. I've been waiting for you."


	4. Chapter 4

After we'd finished unloading everything from the van, Ayako, Masako and I were to shown to the rooms that we'd be occupying. We were located on the top floor; the third. Masako and Ayako were in the room next to mine. I opened the door, stepped in and looked around.

It was a fairly average sized room, not that I wasn't pleased with it; it was just that the room didn't seem to suit the rest of the house. The mansion was decorated with expensive looking items and posh wallpaper, whereas this room had practically no furniture, apart from a bed and a chest of draws, a wardrobe and a dressing table next to the window. The walls were painted a gross pea green colour and the corners seemed...well I wouldn't be going near the corners any time soon. The floor was laminate and actually looked fairly new, but the rest of the mansions floors were covered in carpet or made of marble. It was strange. I felt like I'd been there before.

The only reason I had to be put in this room is because I requested rooms with a door between them, so I could get to Ayako and Masako without having to go into the hallway in case anything happened. The boys had taken the last three bedded room.

After unpacking my belongings into the chest of draws, I decided to change my clothes. I put on a yellow vest top along with my pink skirt and a pair of flip flops. I headed downstairs to Bou, John and Yasu's room. They were on the second floor.

As I walked down the hallway towards the staircase, a cold chill ran down my spine and I got the feeling that somebody was watching me. I turned and looked around, but there wasn't anything or anyone occupying the corridor apart from me.

All of a sudden, one of the old wooden doors began to creak and slowly opened. The woman from before stepped out of the room and into the hallway.

"Oh, hello. I don't think we've met yet. Let me introduce myself. I'm Hinata, the owner of the house." She smiled kindly and walked over to me.

"I'm Mai. Nice to meet you." I replied, shaking her hand. We continued to the end of the hallway and walked down the stairs together.

"So, have you been told about the case yet?" She asked nervously.

"I haven't actually. I kept forgetting to ask so I don't have any idea why we're here." I laughed. "Could you tell me what's been going on?"

"Of course. As you can see, I live out here on my own. My husband died years ago when he fell down the stairs, but I've never had the heart to leave this place behind." We sat on the steps as she continued her story. "During the past few months, strange things have been happening, well actually I've realised that they've always been happening but I never really paid much attention. Whenever a storm comes, I hear a woman screaming. I used to think that it was the wind, but when I started listen closely, I realised that it wasn't the wind. Red stains would appear on the carpet all through the house, like something, or someone was dragged outside. I didn't want to believe that it was anything supernatural about the occurrences so I always managed to convince myself that it was the water pipes in the ceiling leaking onto the floor, and that it only looked red because of some kind of chemical in the carpets."

"That sounds creepy." I said in a hushed tone.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I didn't want to accept that my husband was haunting me. I just don't understand why he'd do that." She discreetly brushed a tear away from the corner of her eye and averted her eyes away from mine.

"How do you know that it's your husband haunting you?" I asked. She hadn't said there had been any paranormal activity that might indicate that it was her husband haunting her.

"Well, I don't actually know that it's him, but once I woke up to find a message written in what looked like blood on the wall. It said 'I'll be waiting. I know you're coming.'" My eyes widened when she said this as she recalled her dream. They were the last words that the woman said to her before she 'died'.

"I think he's waiting for me in the afterlife. What if he tries to kill me?" She said before bursting into tears.

"Do you know who lived in this house before you?" I queried.

"No, sorry. The only thing I know is that the people that lived here before us died, that's the reason we got the house. We wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise but nobody else wanted to buy it."

This case definitely had something to do with my dream. I got to my feet and started walking down the stairs, leaving Hinata on her own. It's not that I didn't care; it's just that I didn't feel I could say anything to make her feel better.

I walked down the rest of the remaining stairs and along the corridor towards the boys' rooms, but I couldn't seem to find it. I carried on walking down the corridor for a few minutes, but I knew that couldn't be possible, because when I'd walked here earlier, it only took about thirty seconds to get from one end of the hallway to the other and I couldn't see Bou's room anywhere.

The temperature in the corridor dropped dramatically and the lights began to flicker eerily. I wrapped my arms around me to keep warm and wished that I had worn a cardigan. I could see my breath in front of my face and I had begun to shiver.

"So you've come back to see me Shiori. So thoughtful of you." Sneered a hateful voice from behind me. I spun round to see the woman from my dream. I screamed for help and tried to run, but something cold and slimy grabbed my ankle and tightened, causing me to fall to the floor. I gasped in pain and clutched my foot where the silvery tentacle of mist had previously manifested.

"My name isn't Shiori. It's Mai!" I shouted at the figure. Why did this woman think I was Shiori?

I quickly started reciting the nine chants that Ayako had taught me.

"Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" I yelled, whilst simultaneously moving my arms. She screamed and began to disparate.

"I'll get you for what you did. You and all your little friends." She whispered in my ear before disappearing completely.

The lights returned to normal and the temperature had slowly but steadily began to climb back up. I heard footsteps running down the corridor towards me. I looked around and saw a wall in front of me. I was at the farthest corner of the corridor.

"Mai! Are you okay?" I heard John shout as they came into view.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said shakily. Yasu bent down helped me to my feet, putting pressure on my injured foot. I cringed as we began to walk back to their room. Bou turned around to look at me and saw me limping slightly.

"Did you hurt your foot?" He asked. The other two stopped and looked as well.

"Just a bit, but I'm fine." Bou bent down and took a closer look.

"That is not fine Mai. Yasu, will you go and get Ayako and tell her to take a look at Mai's ankle."

"Sure thing." Yasu said as he bounded towards the stairs.

I hadn't actually looked at my ankle yet, so I was slightly surprised when I looked down. My whole ankle was purple and blue, and it had ugly scratch marks running down it. I wondered how I hadn't noticed it before now.

Whilst I was deep in thought, Bou had obviously decided that it would be funny to pick me up like a princess and take me to his room.

"Bou! Put me down!" I yelled, rather embarrassed. He just laughed.

"Aw come on Mai. You're our wittle pwincess." I felt my cheeks blush crimson as we entered the room. Bou placed me on the bed, which probably wasn't a good idea. I picked up a pillow and threw it at his head.

"That's for treating me like a baby."

"Come on guys. There isn't any need for violence." John said from a chair next to the bed.

This room was much grander than mine. It had three double beds, along with an en suite bathroom and cream carpets. The wallpaper was also cream, with an intricate yet simple gold design on it. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, feeling very sleepy all of a sudden. I was struggling to keep my eyes open and my head lolled to the side.

"Mai, are you sure you're okay?" I faintly heard John ask, before I drifted into the abyss.

Ayako POV

Masako and I were unpacking out things when Yasu knocked on the door.

"It's open." I called out. He opened the door and stepped in.

"Bou told me to come and get you to look at Mai's ankle?"

"What happened?" I said, trying not to let my worry show through.

"She was attacked by a ghost again."

"That girl! When will she learn to not go off on her own?" I grabbed my medical bag and stormed out of the room, slamming the door loudly on my way out.

When I reached the bedroom, I found Bou sat on the bed next to a sleeping Mai, and John stood by the large window in the corner of the room, admiring the view. I walked over to Mai and shoved Bou off the bed, taking his place.

"Why does nobody like me today?" Bou said to himself. I took Mai's ankle in my hand and felt around for any obvious fractures. Not feeling any, I reached in my bag for some antiseptic cream and bandages.

"How does it look?" John asked from across the room.

"It feels okay. I don't think anything's broken, but I'm going to disinfect the scratches and wrap it up for support. Did you let this happen?" I asked Bou furiously.

"NO! Of course not. I'd never do anything to put Mai at risk. We heard Mai chanting and then somebody scream from down the hall. We got there as fast as we could." I looked down at the sleeping girl. She didn't seem to be having any nightmares.

"I'll go downstairs and tell Naru what happened." I said, standing up.

"I'll come to." Announced John, as we both left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry I haven't updated for a while and…thank you for reading my story! You should all give yourselves a pat on the back! It's my first fanfic, so I really appreciate your reviews and comments. I am suffering from a rather bad case of writers block…any ideas would be appreciated and you will get a shout out, if that means anything to you. PLEASE review and comment! It's a nice feeling when I get an email telling me that somebody has commented :') Sorry this chapter is so short. The next chapter should be up soon, and it should be longer…hopefully *insert evil laugh here*

When Mai awoke, the first thing she noticed was the ceiling. It wasn't anything special, but it was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. The second thing she noticed was that it was quite dark, meaning that it had been quite some time since her rendezvous with the ghost. She shoved the warm duvet that was covering her to the end of the bed, swung her legs over the side and looked around. She was in the boys' room, but she was the only one there.

She stood up and cringed in pain, having forgotten all about her ankle. Sitting back on the bed, she took a look at her newly bandaged ankle, recalling the events of the previous afternoon. She stood up again, this time being careful not to put too much pressure on her injured ankle. She smoothed down her skirt and fixed her hair, before limping towards the door.

She walked into the base and saw everyone sat around the room, talking. They heard the door creak open and all turned their heads to look at her.

"Mai! You're awake!" Bou yelled, jumping up from the sofa and pulling the girl into yet another bear hug.

"Bou-can't-breathe." Mai gasped breathlessly.

"Let go of her you stupid Monk." Ayako shouted, hitting him yet again on his head with her purse.

"Mai." Naru said.

"Yes Naru?"

"Tea." The young girl had to restrain herself from yelling some kind of crude insult at Naru, and instead walked out of the room to the kitchen, fuming. "John, go with her." Naru demanded. John did as he was told and went to accompany Mai to the kitchen, smiling to himself as he left the room.

John and Mai were walking to the kitchen, when Mai stopped and began to stare at an old picture on the wall. That particular picture was a photograph of the previous owners of the house.

"Mai, what is it?" John asked the motionless girl. He walked over to her and looked at the picture, his eyes widening at what he saw. There were three people in the picture. A man and two women, one of which looked scarily similar to Mai, although she was obviously quite a few years older.

"That's…me." Mai mumble quietly.

"No, that would be impossible Mai. That is just someone who looks very much like you." John reassured her. "Now let's go make Naru his tea before he gets in one of his moods."

John POV (I've decided that I don't like writing in the third person.)

As I observed Mai making tea, I realised that she was looking a little pale. Even though her skin was rather pale in general, it somehow looked paler than normal.

"Mai, are you feeling okay?" She turned around to look at me.

"Well how would you feel john if you'd just seen a picture of…" she trailed off and went silent. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it John."

"It's okay. We'll tell Naru when we get back to the base." She smiled at me and went back to making the tea.

When she'd finished, she picked up the tea and walked out of the room, back to the base. After handing Naru his tea, she went and sat on the sofa between Bou and Ayako, snuggling into Bou's shoulder. He put his arm around her and smiled. She looked at me.

"Naru, there's something you need to see." I told him.

"What is it?" He questioned.

"I think it's best if I show you." I walked out of the room and into the corridor with Naru following, and lead him to the picture.

When we reached it, he just stood there and looked at it for a few minutes. He then took a step closer to get a better look at it.

"Well, it can't be Mai." He muttered to himself quietly. "It _obviously_ isn't Mai. That would be impossible, but it could explain why the ghost is targeting her. The ghost must be a violent one, otherwise she wouldn't have attacked Mai so early on in the case, so it could be a good thing we found it. It could help us with finding some information about the previous owners of this property."

He then unhooked it from the wall and silently walked back to the base with it, not saying a word.


	6. Chapter 6

**ALOHA readers! I come to you with another chapter. I would like to thank Rangerforever6 for giving me a rather amazing idea which I shall be using later on in the story! *clapping* Please review and comment **

While I'd been asleep, John, Bou and Ayako had already set up the cameras around the house, so there wasn't much left for me to do apart from make tea for Naru, and whoever else wanted it until I went to bed. I got a bit of homework done, but to be honest, I wasn't really in the mood for homework. I couldn't concentrate.

It's hard, having to keep my grades up when I work so much, but I don't mind. I love it here. I love everyone here, even Madoka. These people are my family and I treasure them with all I have. I don't know what I'd do without them anymore.

At around 11:30, we all decided that it was time for bed. Naru and Lin had decided that they would sleep in the base, in case anything happened on the monitors.

When we reached our rooms, I retreat to my room and got ready for bed. I changed into my oversized top that Bou had given to me. It was left over from one of Bou's bands concerts, and he thought it would make a nice present.

I also put on some sweats and tied my hair into a small ponytail before grabbing my wash bag and knocking on the door that connected our two rooms.

"Can I come in?" I asked through the door.

"Yes" I heard Masako say. I pushed down the handle and opened the door.

"Can I use your bathroom?" I asked. "I don't want to go to the one downstairs."

"Of course you can Mai." Ayako mumbled sleepily from underneath the covers. "But could you hurry up. I need to get my beauty sleep."

I smiled to myself. Typical Ayako. I wandered over to the bathroom, went in and locked the door.

I turned on the hot water tap, put in the plug and let the hot water run. I sat on the side of the bath and stared at my reflection in the mirror but it was all steamed up from the hot water. Droplets of water were running down the surface of the mirror, making it look like I was crying.

I decided that the sink was full enough and turned the tap off. I got my flannel and face wash out of my wash bag and enjoyed the hot water.

I was going to have a shower, but I decided that I was too tired so I was going to have one in the morning instead.

I left my wash bag in there, seeing no point in taking it back to my room when I'd probably be using this bathroom the whole time anyway. I didn't fancy the idea of going downstairs on my own to use the bathroom. It probably isn't used very much. There were probably spiders everywhere! I am terrified of spiders. Naru keeps telling me that it's an irrational fear, but they're just so creepy!

I bid goodnight to Masako and Ayako before returning to my room. I jumped on the bed and pulled the fluffy covers over myself, ready for a good night's sleep, although I highly doubted that was going to happen.

My eyes shot open. Something had woken me up, but what? I sat up in bed and looked around. It was still dark, but the moon cast a silvery glow over everything through the thin cotton curtains.

A cold chill seemed to slither into my bones as goose bumps appeared on my bare flesh. My breath was visible in the air around me and tiny crystals of frost embedded themselves onto the inside of the window.

"Have you missed me Shiori?" I heard a hateful voice sneer from behind me. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek out of pure terror. I felt my hair being grabbed and yanked upwards, drawing a sharp gasp from my lungs. My toes curled and I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to accept that this was real. _Please let this be a dream!_

I tried to call for help, but no words were coming out.

"Why did you come back? I THOUGHT I'D ALREADY GOTTEN RID OF YOU! YOU STUPID BITCH!" She screamed, before drawing a razor sharp knife to my throat.

The tears were coming out in waterfalls now and I began to hyperventilate. There was a loud knocking coming from the door that led to Ayako's room, along with lots of yelling, although I couldn't quite work out what they were saying. I also heard lots of people running up the stairs. They sounded like they were in a hurry.

All of a sudden, I found my voice again.

"I'm not Shiori! I'm Mai! Just leave me alon-"She pressed the knife harder into my throat and I felt a warm liquid drip down my neck.

"Oh be quiet. I can't concentrate of killing you when you're going on like that." She slipped her hand around my waist and sharply dug her fingernails into my stomach. I screamed. It felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside.

I heard more shouting and yelling, along with what I think could have been chanting.

I heard a shrill whistle as two figures appeared from under the door. It was Lin's shiki. The ghost released me from her grip and I fell sideways onto the cold floor, completely limp and void of all energy. I felt drained.

I vaguely remember hearing a door being broken down and people rushing over to me. Someone was shaking me, but I was so tired. I just wanted to sleep. I like sleep…

Lin POV

I was sat downstairs in the base, watching the monitors. I think I was beginning to doze off when I got a bad feeling. Naru was asleep on the sofa. He didn't want to, but I forced him by threatening to ring his parents and tell them he hasn't been getting enough rest.

My shiki were becoming restless and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. Something wasn't right. All of a sudden, one of the temperature monitor's started to beep loudly.

Naru jolted awake and sat up, taking a few seconds to get his bearings.

"Nar-" I began.

"Which room is it?" He asked. His voice had a worried tone to it that he never let anyone else hear.I turned my head back to the monitor's and looked at whose room had triggered the alert.

Room 8. Mai's room.

Naru was looking at the screen over my shoulder.

"Shit." he swore under his breath, bolting out of the base towards the stairs. "Lin, go and get the others." He yelled over his shoulder before ascending up the stairs three at a time.

I followed behind him but stopped at the second floor and ran down the corridor to the room Takigawa and the others were staying in. I knocked on the door.

"Hey! Wake up!" I yelled through the door. There was some shuffling about and I heard a loud thump, as well as some whispering. The door creaked open slowly to reveal a very scruffy looking Takigawa. He was wearing a pair of grey sweats and blue tee shirt.

"You do realise it's 3 in the mornin-"

"There was a sever temperature drop in Mai's room." He was out of the door before I'd finished the sentence. John and Yasu followed closely behind.

When we go to Mai's room, Naru was trying to break the door down by ramming into it with his shoulder.

"Dammit! Mai! Mai, can you hear me?" he shouted urgently. There was no reply. Bou immediately began reciting one of his Buddhist chants.

"Noomaku sanmanda bazaradan…"

Then Mai screamed. It was a heart wrenching scream that was filled with pain which made all of us flinch.

Naru went silent for a minute, just staring at the door, a look of complete helplessness on his face.

I decided that it was time to call upon my shiki for help as a last resort. I blew my whistle and they slid under the door to get rid of the evil spirit. I hoped they were strong enough.

Naru slammed against the door with his shoulder again, this time breaking the door down. He was going to have a bruise tomorrow. It landed on the ground with a loud bang.

We ran in, only to see Mai lying face down on the floor next to the bed, in two small pools of blood. One underneath her abdomen and the other underneath her neck, where the blood continued to drip from a small cut.

I ran over to her as Ayako and Masako ran in from the door joining the two rooms.

"We couldn't get in." Ayako said.

"I know." I replied. "The spirit was using a spiritual force to keep the doors closed so we couldn't get in."

She looked around the room, her eyes finally settling on Mai's limp form on the ground next to me.

"Oh god!" she said, kneeling down next to Mai. She rolled her onto her side, so that she was in the recovery position.

Ayako looked at the blood on the floor, and then at Mai's stomach and neck. She lifted up Mai's shirt to reveal four painful looking puncture wounds.

"Does anyone have something I could use to apply pressure to the wounds?" Yasu quickly peeled off the sweatshirt he was wearing and handed it over.

"It was getting too small anyway." he said as Ayako pressed it onto the unconscious girls stomach, causing her to stir slightly, but not wake up.

"Lin, could you carry her into our room?" she asked me. I took her in my arms and held her securely next to my chest. I stood up and walked into their room, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. Ayako walked in and retrieved her kit from a suitcase that was under one of the double beds.

I placed Mai on the spare bed at the end of the room and got out of the way to let Ayako get to work.

"Honestly! This girl is going to be the death of me!" I heard Ayako mumble in a motherly fashion. I agreed. Mai was certainly going to be the death of us all, but we didn't mind.

I walked over to the others.

"How is she?" John asked, wringing his hands.

"She has four puncture wounds in her stomach and a small cut on the neck. Neither looked too deep, or not deep enough to damage anything important, so I think she'll be fine.

Masako sat down on one of the beds and exhaled deeply, as if she'd been holding her breath the entire time. Takigawa was sat on the floor with his back against a wall and his head in his hands. Naru was running his fingers through his hair, which I knew was a sign of worry. The last time he did it was when he was informed that gene had gone missing.

"You guys should probably leave now. The cuts aren't that bad but she's going to need a few stitches so unless you want to watch, I suggest you leave now."


	7. Chapter 7

**I'M SORRY! I'm so sorry that this chapter has taken so long to complete. Life has been hectic and I either didn't have time to work on it or I just couldn't be bothered because I've been too tired. I understand that this is no excuse *cries* but I want you to know that I thought of you all every day…well almost every day. Anyway, who wants to hear some cool news? I recently performed at the Manchester Royal Palace Theatre! Our drama group put on a show there, so I now class myself as a star. I think I want to become a diva…**

**Me: Hey, you. Fetch me some red vines, fool!**

**Innocent Bystander: Of course my Excellency! Anything you wish!**

**Anyway, on with the story…**

I woke up with the morning sun shining on my face. I could see the brightness from behind my eyelids. I opened my eyes and used my hand to shield them from the bright sunlight streaming through the window across the room. I pushed the covers off me and got out of the bed. I stood up and listened.

I heard footsteps, but I couldn't see anyone around. I stood still and listened carefully, to try and work out which direction they were coming from.

I walked into the corridor and listened again, realising they were coming from behind me. I turned around and saw the woman called Shiori. An almost exact copy of me.

"Mai." she said sweetly. "I'm so sorry for what that woman has done to you. It's my entire fault that you..." she trailed off as tears silently slid down her transparent cheeks.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything to me." I reassured her. "Can you tell me more about the woman?"

"Mira. Her name's Mira. We hired her as a cleaner, but...I can't tell you anymore. She'll come after me again, and you!" She was starting to panic slightly.

"But we need to find out what's going on around here! This can't go on any longer. What if someone else gets hurt?"

"You need to find the basement. Kaito and I stored all of our documents and photos down there, as well as letters."

"But there wasn't a basement on the plan of the house."

"I know. We only discovered it three weeks after moving in and never got round to telling someone about it. It was our special place that no-one knew about. The door is behind one of the book cases in the library. There was an earthquake and a lot of the book cases fell over, revealing the door."

"Which book case is it behind?" I asked.

"I can't quite remember, but I think it was the one filled with books on Japanese history."

"Why does she want to kill you?" I asked softly.

"I think you mean why _did_ she kill me and why is currently she trying to kill you."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. You'll find everything you need to know in the basement." she smiled before disappearing. I blinked, and in her place stood Gene.

"Hello Mai." he said gently, before I ran over to him and wrapped him into a bone crushing hug (not that ghosts can break bones...at least I don't think they can).

"Where have you been?" I yelled at him after pulling away from the embrace. "Where were you when I needed you?" I whispered as a single tear dripped down my cheek and resided on my chin.

His face fell and he stared at me, a look of regret on his face.

"I'm so sorry Mai. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't get through to you. Something was blocking me. There is a very strong presence here Mai. It isn't safe for you. It isn't safe for anyone."

"Well what do you expect us to do? Leave? We can't do that!" I exclaimed. "We haven't finished the investigation. We have a 100% success rate when it comes to solving cases and we can't just give up now because of yet another dangerous ghost!"

"Okay, but you have to promise me that you're going to be careful."

"I'm always careful; it's just that the ghosts seem to like me more than anyone else. It's probably because I'm prettier that anyone else here" I said.

"Well, be _more_ careful that usual then, and Naru is quite pretty too." This made me laugh.

I could tell that he was trying to be careful with how he worded his sentences; trying not to offend me.

"You need to wake up now. The others will be getting worried." He said. I didn't want to leave Gene, but I knew that he was right.

"Wait, how long have I been asleep?" I exclaimed. It would have to be quite a long time for them to be getting worried.

"See you soon Mai." Gene said happily, waving at me. I smiled back, hoping that I actually would see him soon. I then experienced a falling sensation and the next thing I knew was that I was in a bed. I tried to sit up but there was an incredibly sharp pain in my abdomen. I let out a soft groan before clutching my stomach and swinging my stiff legs over then side of the bed.

I knew what had happened last night. I was attacked by the ghost called Mira, but I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to remember it so I distracted myself with the thought of Naru going all this time without my tea, but then again, somebody else could have made it for him.

I used the hand that wasn't on my stomach to push myself up from the bed. I tried to take a few steps but had to stop for a few seconds because I was starting to feel a bit lightheaded and had to steady myself on the wall.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the nauseous sensation in my gut. I opened them again and realised I was in Masako and Ayako's room…which meant I had two flights of stairs to go down to get to the base. The very thought of it made me sigh.

I was almost at the door, when all of a sudden, I heard footsteps coming from the bathroom and the door slowly begin to creak open. I felt all the blood drain from my face and ice seemed to run through my veins. _Please not again. _I thought to myself.

I heard more slow footsteps and someone breathing heavily. Then I heard a gasp.

"Mai, what are you doing out of bed?" Bou asked loudly. "You are in no condition to be walking about right now."

He came over to me, put his arm around my waist and helped me back over and into the bed.

I studied his face and noticed dark bags under his eyes. His hair was all messy and his clothes were creased.

"Bou, you didn't stay awake all this time…did you?" I asked, not knowing exactly how long 'all this time' actually was.

"Yep. All ten hours. I'm glad you're awake. It means I can finally get some sleep!" He exclaimed, letting out a heavy sigh. I leaned over, grabbed a pillow and threw it at his head.

"Baka! You didn't have to stay up all this time." I said, feeling tears forming behind my eyes. "You should have gotten someone else to come up and then you could take a break and you wouldn't be so tired. You don't need to worry about me all the time. I can take care of myself sometimes. I'm always getting myself into trouble and they everyone else has to –" I was interrupted when Bou sat down beside me on the bed and wrapped me into a secure and warm hug. "I'm sorry." I whispered, before the tears began to fall.

"It's okay Mai. Everyone here loves you. We love you so much more than you could even imagine. We don't care about all these things you put us through because they aren't your fault, and we know you'd do exactly the same for any of us. Nobody's perfect, not even Naru so stop saying stupid things and just be quiet." This made me cry even more. I wrapped my arms around him and clutched onto his shirt. "I think you need some more sleep, and I could do with some too. Naru will probably be up in a bit to check on us anyways. Come on." He said lying down, beckoning me to come and join him.

I lay down and cuddled into him. He put his arms around me and I nestled into his shoulder. The tears were still falling, but I wasn't upset. I was happy. I'd never been happier.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOSTHUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

Naru POV

I was on my way to check on Bou and Mai. Bou had come down every two hours to get coffee and food, but after ten hours I suspect that he was feeling tired, even with all the caffeine he'd drunk.

When I got to the top floor, I knocked softly; as not to wake Mai, and softly called out Bou's name. Not getting a reply, I quietly opened the door and walked in.

Honestly, I was shocked at what I saw, but it wasn't a shocking thing. It was something that warmed my heart to see, not in a weird way or anything. I'm not going soft, but who wouldn't be happy when they saw Mai and Bou asleep in each other's arms? Oh god. I'm starting to sound like a romance novelist.

When I think about it, we are all like a family, especially for Mai. I think she sees us as her family, and by that I mean that she doesn't see us as her replacement family. We're just additions.

I went over to chair next to the window, opposite the bed and sat down. Someone needed to make sure that they weren't attacked. Ayako and Lin are nearly done with making the protective charms for everyone's rooms. We didn't need any more ghost related injuries.

I was beginning to get tired after ten minutes of staring into space so I texted Lin (yes, Naru does have a phone, an iPhone in fact. I'm a bit jealous…) and asked him to bring the book I'd been reading upstairs. I would have gone to get it myself but I didn't want to leave these two on their own.

Lin was up in a matter of minutes with two books and a cup of coffee. He entered through the door and continued to walk over to me.

"What happened to Takigawa? Wasn't he supposed to be watching Mai?" He questioned me. I looked over to the bed. He followed my line of sight and looked over at the bed. He smiled softly at the two of the asleep together.

"Ayako and I will start to put up the charms in all the rooms. We'll start here." He said before leaving to get the charms and Ayako from the base.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOSTHUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

Mai POV

All in all, I had been asleep for about twelve hours yesterday. I was currently in the kitchen making hot drinks for everyone, trying to make up for waking them up in the middle of the night the day before.

"How does your stomach feel Mai?" A voice asked from behind me, making me jump and almost knock over the kettle.

"Jeez Ayako! " I said. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't sneak up behind me."

"I'm sure you would appreciate it. Anyway, how does it feel?"

"It's fine. I can't even tell it's there." I smiled at her. A fake smile, but it was still a smile. Honestly, it still hurt like hell but I can't stand having everyone worrying about me. "It must be those painkillers you gave me."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better, but you still need to take it easy. I don't want your wounds to open up again, especially after all that hard work I put in to fixing them." This made me smile. Ayako will always be Ayako.

"Will you help me carry some of these to the base? I can't find a tray anywhere." I grabbed four and Ayako grabbed four, two in each hand, and we made our way back to the base.

When we got there, we handed out the various beverages and sat down with our own. I made myself a cup of hot water and vegetable stock and Ayako had a coffee. I don't understand how people can enjoy coffee. It tastes disgusting.

**AN: I mentioned earlier that the temperature monitor was going off (in chapter 6). I have decided that Naru and Lin decided to invest in digital wireless temperature monitors that link up to the base, so they didn't have to go round at the beginning of every case and measure the temperature in every room. I believe that it was a wise investment.**


	8. Chapter 8

Mai POV

"Yasu, will you come to the library with me?" I asked him, remembering earlier when Naru asked me not to go anywhere alone due to the previous events that had occurred.

"Of course Mai, but just the two of us alone?" He smirked, whilst looking at me with _those _eyes. I gave him the evils, grabbed him by his hair and dragged him into the hallway with me.

"We'll be back in a bit." I yelled behind me. I heard the others snigger behind us.

"Have fun guys." Bou yelled, earning himself an audible slap on the head by Ayako. This made me laugh to myself, but then realised it was a bad idea when I felt a searing pain through my abdomen. I let go of Yasu's hair and used that hand to clutch my stomach whilst I leant against the wall. The pain quickly passed; I looked up at Yasu. His happy expression had been replaced with a look of worry.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine Yasu." I said with a big fake smile on my face. He knew I didn't mean it, but I think he decided to trust me and let it go. He knew I was stubborn.

When we got to the library, Yasu went straight to one of the bookcases near the window. He'd clearly been in here before because he seemed to know where all the different sections were. I had a look around for a few minutes and found the Japanese History section right in the corner at the back of the room.

The book case it's-self looked very antique. It was made out of dark mahogany and had lots of scratches and markings that made it look worn and used, but not in a bad way. It had obviously been around for a very long time.

Yasu came over and stood behind me.

"Didn't know you were in to Japanese History." He said in a surprised voice. Truth was, I hated Japanese history. I'd always hated it. It was just so dull! Wouldn't it be cool if there was a school that taught ghost history, or the history of supernatural occurrences, or something along those lines? I'd enjoy that. When I thought about it, odds were that there were probably classes somewhere on those sorts of things.

"Yeah, Yasu. I've always taken an interest in Japanese History. It's so interesting." I lied. This seemed to satisfy him as he walked away after that, probably to find some books on psychology or philosophy or whatever he was taking at school. I didn't like lying; it made me like I'd done something wrong.

I made sure Yasu wasn't looking before going round to the side of the book case and carefully examining it to see if there was any way I could slide it across the wall. There was no way I could push it over. I'm not saying I'm weak, but I doubt that even Yasu could push it over. It looked really heavy.

I did realise that I hadn't told anyone about the basement yet, but that's not because I'm stupid or dumb (although me and Naru could probably have a heated argument on the subject), it's because I don't want to embarrass myself more than I already have. What if the ghost was lying about the basement in the first place and I had gotten everybody's hopes up about solving the case? Naru will just take it as another opportunity to tease me even more than he already does. There would be no end to the witty insults and sarcastic comments!

I decided that I would have to think about how I would move the book case, so I went over to join Yasu.

"Yasu, do you want a cup of coffee or someth-" My offer was interrupted by a huge bang that made my bones rattle. I turned around to see the bookcase lying on the floor with various books splayed all around it. Behind where it used to be, was a door.

I looked at Yasu, who seemed to be in shock.

"Yasu, go and get Naru and the others." He looked back at me, nodded and ran out of the room towards the base without a word.

Now I was alone, I had a chance to check out the basement until the others arrived. I walked briskly over the wooden door, grabbed hold of the handle and pushed.

It wouldn't open. I tried again, pulling this time, but it still didn't open. This puzzled me, as Shiori hadn't specifically told me to do anything to get the door open.

I examined the door, and realised that there was a lock underneath the door handle. I needed a key, a key that I didn't have and didn't know where to find.

All of a sudden, a cold breeze rushed past me making my shiver and giving me visible goose bumps on my arms. The breeze disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. I took a look around but nothing had changed or had been displaced, but I was almost certain that the breeze was caused by one of the ghosts; either Shiori or Mira.

I was just about to go and join the others, when I because aware of something cold and hard in the front right pocket of my skirt. I didn't remember putting anything in there before. I reached into the pocket and clasped my hand around something metallic and oddly shaped. It was a key.

I ran over to the door, inserted the key into the lock and turned it. I felt the mechanism click into place and slowly opened the door. I put the key back into my pocket.

The door creaked as it swung open and came to a stop when it reached the wall on the other side. I took a step inside and looked around, but decided it was probably best that I waited for the others before I went any further. I was about to turn around and head back into the library when the air in the room began to cool rapidly. _I have a bad feeling about this, _I thought to myself.

I quickly took in the features of the room. I was in a hallway, approximately three meters long and one and a half meters wide. At the end of the hallway were stairs, presumably leading to the basement that Shiori had told me about.

"Mai!" I heard Naru call out from the doorway to the library from the hallway. I turned to run back to the library when the basement door slammed shut before me, plunging me into darkness. I heard another click, which I knew was the lock clicking into place. I reached into my pocket, only to find the key gone.

I thought I heard a faint laugh somewhere from inside the hallway, but dismissed it as my imagination, considering that it was so quiet.

"Naru!" I yelled as I ran over to the door. It was pitch black in there and the only light that was entering the room was from under the door, but that didn't really help at all. The good thing was that the temperature had gone up, indicating that the spiritual presence from before had disappeared.

I could see a faint outline of the door handle and grabbed it. I pushed it down and tried to open the door, but as I'd feared, it didn't budge even an inch which obviously wasn't a good thing.

"Naru, get me out of here!" I pleaded through the door.

"It's alright Mai, just relax. We're going to get you out of there. Now, is there anything in there with you?" He asked in a calm voice. It baffled me how he could stay so relaxed in a situation like this, but then again, it wasn't _him _that was trapped in here.

I took a deep breath to calm myself before answering.

"I don't think there's anyone in here at the moment, but there was before. I think it was Shiori."

"Okay, now can you see anything in there?"

"No, I didn't have a chance to find a light switch, but I know this isn't the basement. This is the hallway to the stairs that lead to the basement." I told him.

"Well it's probably a good idea to find the light switch. Things are a lot easier when you can see. Meanwhile, Lin and I will try to break the door down. There isn't anything supernatural stopping us from getting in; it's just the lock on the door."

I began to feel my way around the room using the wall. I decided to start on the left side wall. I ran my hands up and down the wall, while I heard Lin and Naru constantly crashing into the door, not making any progress.

"Mai, this isn't working. This door isn't like the others in the house. The wood is thicker and the lock is better quality. We're going to need some tools. Yasuhara, will you please go and enquire about a screwdriver? I think we're going to have to remove the doors hinges and then break it down. The removal of the hinges will make it easier to break down. We should be able to manage when we've done that."

I heard Yasu mumble a reply and him running out of the room to find Hinata.

"Mai, have you found the light switch yet?" Bou called out to me.

"Not yet." I replied.

"How did you even get in there in the first place?" I heard Ayako ask. "Was the door already unlocked?"

"No, it was locked, but I think Shiori gave me the key. I felt a cool breeze and the next thing I knew, there was a key in my pocket." I continued my way down the lightless corridor, running my hands across the wall in search of the light switch.

"Well how did you know that was Shiori?" Naru said. "For all you know, it could've been Mira trying to lure you in to yet another trap."

"Honestly Naru, I can promise you that it wasn't Mira."

"Well how could you possibly know that considering the fact that you-"

"Look Naru, would you please just believe me for on-" My eyes widened and I gasped slightly as I felt myself falling backwards. As it turned out, I had reached the end of the hallway and had just begun to fall down the stairs. I felt my body tilting downwards and didn't even have time to cry out before my head cracked against one of the stairs. I felt a white hot pain in the back of my head, then nothing.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

Naru POV

I heard a loud crack and some thumping coming from behind the door.

"Mai?" I called out. "Are you alright?" No reply. "Mai?" Still no reply. "Mai, if you don't reply within the next five seconds I'm docking your pay for the whole week." Of course, I wasn't really going to not give her the money she had _tried _to earn, but if she didn't reply with a crude insult, it meant that something must've gone wrong.

At that precise moment, Yasu came running in through the door and handed me two screwdrivers. I then handed one to Lin and one to Bou, who got to work on removing the screws right away.

They had removed the hinges within minutes. Lin and I the positioned ourselves in front of the door and we continued to crash into the door, knocking it clean to the ground.

There was no sight of Mai in the corridor. Bou pushed past us and advanced into the hallway.

"Mai?" He called out. He walked over to the stairs and looked down. He froze and cursed under his breath. That couldn't be good. I ran over to join him and felt the blood drain from my face as I saw Mai crumpled up at the bottom of the stairs, a small pool of blood surrounding her head.

"Ayako!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs. When I got to the bottom I knelt next to Mai and put my hand over her mouth to make sure she was still breathing, which she was. I then checked her pulse as Ayako came running down the stairs. "Her vitals seem okay, put her pulse is a bit weak, nothing to be worried about.

"Okay. It looks like she hit her head on one of the stairs. Do you think she was pushed?" Ayako mumbled to herself.

Bou was stood at her feet looking as worried as ever, running one of his hands through his hair.

"I don't know. It was dark so she could've just not seen the stairs and just fallen. She could've been pushed, but I didn't sense anything in here with her." Ayako put her fingers underneath Mai's head and examined the bump, although she couldn't move her too much in case of a neck injury.

"Well I think she's going to be fine. There is the possibility of a neck injury, but I'm going to wait until she wakes up to see if anything's wrong. I don't want to call an ambulance if we don't need one."

"So you think she's going to be okay?" Bou asked hesitantly.

"I think she'll be fine, but she's going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up." As soon as Ayako said that, Mai began to stir slightly.

"Mai, can you hear me?" I said quietly, as not to aggravate the headache that she supposedly had. She groaned slightly in return. She said something very quietly, but it was so soft that I couldn't hear it. "Mai, speak louder."

"I said get your ugly face out of my line of vision!" She said, louder this time. She groaned again before raising her arms to clutch at her head. She tried to roll onto her side but was stopped by Ayako.

"I forbid you to move until I make sure you don't have a neck injury or a concussion" Ayako ordered. Mai groaned once more, her eyes scrunched up in pain.

"Look Ayako, I feel fine. I just have a bit of a headache," she said with a smile.

"I'm sure you are fine, but I still need you to stay still for just a little while. I am _not _going to get sued for neglecting a patient." This made Mai smile slightly before letting her hands fall to her sides. She relaxed her eyes and let out a sigh. I stood up and left, off to get some towels to wipe up the blood around Mai's head. I'm sure she didn't appreciate lying in a pool of blood, let alone her own blood.

Lin was stood at the top of the stairs waiting for me.

"Is she okay?" He asked.

"I think she'll be fine. Do you know where Hinata keeps her spare towels?"

"No, but I'll go and find some for you if you wa-"

"It's okay, I'll get them." I said while we exited the library. John and Yasu were busy trying to put all the books back into their correct places in the previously fallen bookcase. I assumed that they had returned it to its normal position whilst I was down in the basement. "We're going to need another camera to be set up in the basement." I said. Lin nodded slightly and retreated back to the base.


	9. Chapter 9

Guys, I'm sorry. *cries hysterically* I've just had so much stuff going on this past school year. I've been stressed with exams/assessments, etc. I was going to update in the New Year, but then one of my friends killed her and I've really not been in the mood to be honest, no offence. Anyway, I've been writing this chapter since my last update (about seven months ago, again, sorry about that) and I've only just finished it, so I hope you enjoy I don't know whether you want to re-read the story in case you've forgotten what happened, but whatever. I just find that always helps. I love you all. Seriously, so much love to all you followers and anyone new that has just joined us ^_^ Just don't forget to review, but I know you're all far too nice to forget to do something as important as that ;)

Also, if anyone has any good names for this story, please let me know! I'm really starting to hate 'Family Affairs' so any suggestions would be much appreciated 3

Mai POV

"Mai, tea." I heard Naru ask for the second time that hour." I swept all the various papers that were on my knees to the side of me and stood up. You would've thought that he'd give me a break after all that's happened, but no. He's far too cruel for that.

All the papers, documents and photos that had been stored in the basement had been brought up to the base for us to analyse. Although it was boring, we did acquire a lot of information. Mira used to be a live in maid, and had been ever since they moved into the house. We'd found the documents confirming it, but apart from that, we hadn't found much else. Most of the papers were just documents relating to the house and some to the marriage.

I don't understand why Shiori had told me about the basement in the first place if she knew that was all we were going to find, I mean I'm sure that Lin would have uncovered that after a bit of research. There must be some more information in all the papers, information that's relative to the case that is.

"I'm assuming you all want drinks as well." I said as I walked over to the door. They murmured in reply. Bou stood up and walked over to me.

"Let's go make hot beverages!" He said, far too enthusiastically for my liking.

"Come on Bou," I said, taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen. "I make drinks, you carry them."

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

I put the kettle under the sink to fill up then put it on the stove to boil. I was surprised that Shiori didn't have a real kettle.

I went over to Bou and stood next to him. He put his arm around me and I snuggled into his shoulder.

"Bou, I want to go home," I said softly.

"I know, me too Jou-chan." I rested my head on his shoulder, and he rested his on mine. We stayed that way for a few minutes, and I was about to doze off when the kettle started whistling violently.

I finished making the drinks and put them on a tray, which I then handed to Bou.

When we got to the base, I handed the drinks out and flopped back down onto the sofa.

"You know, I can't help feeling that there was some other reason that Shiori sent us down there." I muttered. For some reason, everyone went silent after I'd said tha…then it hit me. I hadn't actually told them about the dream I'd had yet. "Did I forget to tell you guys about the dream..?" I asked sheepishly.

"Yes Mai, I believe you did," Naru said icily. "Do you think you might like to tell us about it?"

"Well, Shiori came to me in one of my dreams and told me to go to the basement…maybe…are you angry?"

Bou and Ayako looked at each other. Naru's face showed no emotion as he stood up.

"Let's go and have another look in the basement then," he said before leaving the room. We all got up and followed him to the basement. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

When we got down to the basement, Naru told me to stand in the middle of the room and not touch anything. Personally, I thought he was going a little overboard, but at least it meant that I didn't have to do anything.

The basement was a rather large room, and the atmosphere was actually rather nice. It was peaceful and seemed happy. Maybe that's just because I was in a small room with a group of people that I love. I've missed having a family.

I was wandering around the spacious room, observing it from every angle, when I felt my foot dip slightly. I looked down and noticed a crack between two of the floorboards. At first I thought nothing of it, but then it hit me. I crouched down so I was next to the crack in the floor, but I couldn't see any obvious way of pulling the floor boards up.

"Mai, I thought I told you to stand over there and not touch anything," Naru said exasperatedly.

"But I think I've found something…" I said whilst trying to pry open the floorboards with my fingers."

"Careful Mai," Bou said. You don't want to get a splin-"

"Ow!" I said as the tiny piece of wood slid under my nail. I groaned as I stole a glance at my finger.

"Mai, can't you go five minutes without getting injured in some way?" Ayako said exasperatedly. "Come on, let's go and sort you out," she said as she dragged me up the stairs by my hair.

"Lin, go find a crow bar," Naru ordered from behind me.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

I was sat in the base on my own, watching the monitors. Naru didn't want me in the basement anymore, so because he's a narcissistic jerk, he decided that it would be best to lock me in the base, with various protective charms, of course.

I'd been watching the monitor displaying the scene in the basement for a while. They had just figured out that the two floorboards had been nailed into place, which was why they were having so much trouble with opening it. _Looks like I'll be in here for a while, _I thought to myself.

I turned up the volume on the monitor for the basement so I could hear what they were saying and went over to sit on the sofa. I picked up a book on the coffee table next to it. "Parapsychology Revolution: A Concise Anthology of Paranormal and Psychical Research"._Must be Naru's, _I thought to myself. I opened the first page and started to read, smiling to myself as Bou and Ayako argued in the background. It had become a homely sound that made me feel warm inside.

I was on the third chapter when I first heard my name mentioned.

"This would be more fun if Mai was here," Ayako moaned. "You're being too harsh on the poor girl Naru. She only got a splinter."

"Well, I just don't want her to get anything worse than that. Her hospital bills are much more that I would like to be paying." Naru said icily. I frowned as he said that. It's not like I _try _to get hurt. It just happens and maybe I would be able to afford the bills if I wasn't on minimum frickin' wage.

"You do realise that she only gets hurt for you, right? She does everything for SPR," Bou said as he came to my defence.

"Well _I _don't ask her to do anything. I'd never do or tell her to do anything that would put her in harm's way." There was clearly an awkward silence after that. "Because of the hospital bills," Naru quickly added after realising what he'd actually said.

I continued reading. He's such a jerk. Is it really that hard for him to say one nice thing about me?!

"Come on Naru, we all know you care about her," Ayako said knowingly.

"I'd use a word _slightly _stronger than caring," Bou added, with a smirk on his face. I looked up at the camera to see Naru's reaction to all this. My heart skipped a beat when he didn't reply. Did this mean that he liked me?!

"I would never care for anyone as clumsy as Mai. She is merely an assistant and nothing more."

Oh.

I turned off the screen on the monitor and muted the sound. I continued reading, letting a single tear slide down my cheek. It fell onto the page, smudging the ink and wrinkling the paper. Another one fell but I brushed it away before it had a chance to mark the book. Naru's book.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

"Jou-chan, time to wake up." I opened my eyes to find Bou sitting next to me on the sofa. "Hey sleeping beauty," he smiled at me. I yawned as I struggled into an upright position.

"What time is it?" I asked sleepily.

"Around seven thirty." Had I really been asleep that long? I looked around the room, only to find it empty.

"Where is everyone?"

"In the dining room. Hinata cooked dinner."

"Why didn't you all wake me up?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Ayako decided that we should let you rest, after all that's happened today. I however disagree with this as you sleep far more than the average person and really don't need any more; also I thought you might be hungry.

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled.

"So, what are we eating?" I asked as I jumped to my feet.

GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT GHOST HUNT

"Mai, pass the pickles," Bou asked from the opposite side of the table.

"What, these pickles?" I teased as I gestured to the bowl of pickles right in front of me.

"Yes Mai, those pickles. Do you see any other bowls of pickles on this table?"

"Ayako, would you like some pickles?" I asked innocently. Ayako quickly picked up on what I was doing.

"Why yes, I would love some, thank you Mai," she said, winking at me.

"Hey! I asked first!" Monk yelled.

"Oh calm down you old man. They're just pickles." She tipped some onto her plate and began to eat. "Wow Hinata, these are delicious! Did you pickle them yourself?"

Bou was clearly starting to get annoyed.

"Well, since you ask, yes I do pickle them myself. Actually…" Hinata carried on to tell us a tale of how her Grandmother had showed her how to pickle pickles when she was just a girl, I think. I wasn't actually listening. I was too busy thinking about what Naru had said earlier. Did he really think of me like that? I know we're not exactly best friends, but I thought he'd had at least a tiny bit of respect for me and what I do for the company. I know I'm not the most skilled person in the world, or the most intelligent, but I put everything I have into making SPR the best it can be.

I honestly don't think he realises how hard or tiring it is for me to have school all day and then to go straight to work, especially when I sometimes don't finish till ten! I miss my friends and I miss having free time! When I'm not working, I'm either doing my homework or shopping for groceries of doing housework. Naru doesn't even give me days off! He's the worst boss ever. "Mai." I wonder if he's even ever heard of the word kindness. "Mai!" He's probably the child of Satan or something. "MAI." I jumped and something touched my arm.

"Oh, what's wrong Ayako?" I asked, not knowing what the problem was.

"You're asking me what's wrong? You've been in a daze for about five minutes. Are you okay?" I looked around the room. Everyone was staring at me.

"What? Yeah, I'm totally fine. Just tired is all."

"Tired?!" Bou exclaimed. "You've been asleep for about half the time we've been here!"

"Oh leave her be you stupid Monk. She's a growing girl. Teenagers need their rest." Ayako retorted.

"Guys, stop fighting! The meal was lovely Hinata, thank you very much." I smiled at her as I got up from the table.

"And where do you think you're going?" Asked Naru.

"Well, I was going to go to bed. Is there a rule against this now or…?"

"Well, I was just considering the fact that there is an angry spirit around which seems to attack you every time you are alone." He said coldly.

"Oh, so you care about my wellbeing now, do you? I thought I was just some clumsy assistant." Everyone went silent after I'd said that. I felt tears brimming at the corners of my eyes and ran out of the room before anyone could see them fall.

"Mai, wait!" I heard Naru shout from behind me. I ignored him and carried on running, not caring where I was going. "Mai!" I felt someone grab my shoulder.

"Naru, get off. Haven't you said enou-" It was at that point that I realised it wasn't Naru who had grabbed my shoulder. I screamed as I was slammed against the wall.

"It's nice to see you again, Shiori," Mira sneered at me.

"What do you want from me?! I've already told you, I'm not Shiori!"

"I want you to suffer! You took what was most dear to me, so I'll take what's most dear to you. Your life."

"What did I take from you?! Tell me!"

"YOU TOOK HIM. YOU TOOK MY KAITO!"

"HE WAS NEVER YOURS TO BEGIN WITH. HE LOVED SHIORI, NOT YOU! How could you not see that?!" She hit me across the face so hard that I fell to the floor. I tried to get back up, but she kicked in the ribs and I fell back down, blotching my sides in pain.

"HE LOVED ME." Kick. "I COULD SEE IT IN HIS EYES." Kick.

"Are you sure you didn't mistake love for kindness?" Kick. I groaned and opened my eyes a fraction and saw Naru running towards me. Kick. He was glowing. My blood froze. He was going to use his PK.

DUH DUH DUUUH. Hope you all enjoyed it, and that you're not too angry about the ending, not that you would be anyway. I know you all secretly love cliff hangers. Have any compliments or constructive criticism? You know I want to know what you like and don't like, so type away in the big blue box right below this and simply click review. Simple? I thought so. Till next time :D


End file.
